COMMANDMENT, THE NEW (ἐντολή, G1953, commandment, order). That commandment given in the NT which emphasizes the substance and spiritual power of love involved in the moral law, the Ten Commandments.

Although not stated formally as the new commandment, the message of Jesus to the rich young man who claimed he had kept the Ten Commandments (Matt 19:16-22; cf. the parallels, Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23) that he should sell all his goods, give to the poor and follow Jesus, stresses the new commandment principle of love toward God and men. The kernel of this thought is also imbedded in Matthew 22:37-40 in Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments as teaching love to God and to one’s neighbor.

The actual NT references where the term “new commandment” (ἐντολὴ̀ καινή) is found are John 13:34, 35; 1 John 2:7, 8 and 2 John 5. In the context of John 13:34, 35 Jesus had been teaching His disciples the principle of humiliation and concern for one another in human relations (i.e., in the illustration of foot washing, John 13:4-17). Also the disciples have just been confronted with the Savior’s statement regarding the greedy and traitorous act which was going to be performed by Judas (John 13:21-30). So, Jesus says to His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (13:34). It had been stated in the OT that men should love their neighbors. Jesus puts new emphasis on this concept found in the law. “You who are My disciples,” He says, “really show love to one another, as I have shown love to you. This will be a new thing for the world to see, that you, My disciples, have love for one another.” This is certainly the idea of new (kainē) in the commandment referred to here: that which is remarkable and distinctive, rather than the concept of unknown or strange as in Acts 17:19. This commandment is new in that the disciples’ love should follow His divine example of love for them and should demonstrate a uniqueness in love for fellow Christians.

In 1 John 2:5-10 the commandment is called old in that the readers knew from the OT and from John’s presentation of Jesus’ teaching that they should love one another (cf. John 15:12), but it was new in that there was renewed and continual emphasis to be placed on the Christian loving his brother through the power of God’s own love (cf. the same message in 2 John 5, 6).

Bibliography G. G. Findlay, Fellowship in the Life Eternal (1955), 162-173; R. S. Wallace, The Ten Commandments (1965).